The fifth issue of Starlog was published in March of 1977, the second of the eight-times-a-year issues. The magazine starts to move beyond sci-fi shows and movies, largely because there weren't that many to write about, and gets more into actual science and technology. Also, readers write lots of cranky letters.

So long as humans get together, there's going to be squabbling and disagreements, and that's no less true for conventions. The ISTC in question is the International Star Trek Convention, which ran for a few years in the mid-seventies, and having re-read the article in question from Starlog #003, I have to admit, I'm still baffled by just what her complaint is. But that's also kind of the point, I suppose; this is some seriously inside-baseball stuff, and there were few other forums available.

What strikes me about this letter, though, is how civil it turns in the last paragraph. Even after basically calling Starlog distasteful, and calling out Joan Winston for not mentioning the wrong people (or something), she then makes sure there's no hard feelings, and that she likes all parties involved. Oh, such a bygone time it was.

And Ms. Winston's reply is just as cordial.

In another example of a bygone time, this prog-rocker lists some of the more famous sci-fi bands - and also Synergy. I'm not the biggest fan of prog-rock, but I read a lot of music history, and I've never heard of them before now.

Apparently this New Yorker (who is still space-rockin' to this very day on YouTube!) was not the only person to write about sci-fi in rock music, and I'm not the only person to enjoy the back covers of the last few issues.

2. Shatner on Tour, and the Shuttle Enterprise Prepares for Nothing in Particular.

Did you catch Shatner on tour last year? I did (and wrote about it for SF Weekly), and he did not disappoint. For a man of 80, he still has a lot of energy, though probably not as much as he did during his mid-seventies tour. The reading of Bradbury's "Earthbound" was captured for the ages on the record Captain of the Starship.

Could you just walk into any record store and buy Captain of the Starship? Heck no!

And, speaking of that starship:

The Enterprise gets tiles for at least one hundred re-entries from space, of which it will do exactly none. The neato picture does remind me of the original teaser trailer for the 2009 Star Trek, with all the sweaty guys and the sparks and stuff. But at least that ship managed to make it into space, and everyone agreed on the name. (More on that later.)

3. The Only 1977 Twentieth Century Fox Sci-Fi Films You Need to Know About.

Tidbits about the still-mysterious Star Wars had cropped up in the last few issues, and the film was two months away from being released by the time issue #005 hit the stands, but the movie is entirely absent from the article entitled "Twin 20th Releases for SF Fans." Fox and friends were clearly very nervous about the movie (as evidenced by the teaser trailer, which looks questionable and sounds all wrong without John Williams' score), but they had much higher hopes for Ralph Bakshi's now-retitled Wizards.

It was already in theaters by the time this issue hit the stands, and the purporter isn't wrong about it being a warm-up for his Lord of the Rings, as Wizards does feature many of the worst excesses of that film. (I'm not a fan, is what I'm saying.) It's adorable that they really thought that Bakshi would be able to do the whole trilogy, though.

And speaking of movies with names that keep changing -

It would be officially re-re-titled Damnation Alley by the time it came out on October 21. And, remember, those giant cockroaches? Carefully researched, and totes possible.

4. It's All Part of my Star Trek Fantasy.

Just a nice 28" x 20" poster, available for a mere $3.60 from the Starlog Poster Gallery. Starlog was heavily into merch at the point, and good for them on that.

5. Star Trek vs. Censorship, Round 1.

In this issue's column, David Gerrold talks about the religious controversies surrounding the animated Star Trek episode "The Magicks of Megas-Tu," as well as his own episode "BEM." There were both complaints after the episodes aired, as well as by the network, nervously cutting out things that might have riled up the easily-riled.

The animated Trek is treated somewhat unfairly as a joke these days, and there's a mention above of Shatner having little love for it, but Mr. Gerrold always took it seriously; quite frankly, if it weren't worth taking seriously, nobody would have cared that it used devilish imagery.

6. Nothing About Star Wars, but At Least There's...

WAR IN SPAAAAAACE!!! In my head, I hear Mel Brooks saying it, cf. Jews in Space, though the "Pigs in Space" cadence from The Muppet Show is also acceptable.

Anyway, when Time got around to doing an article about it in the October 17, 1977 issue, they had the advantage of being able to reference the obvious: "The Soviets have developed a 'hunter-killer' satellite, straight from Star Wars, that can track down orbiting U.S. spacecraft - and wipe them out." Further unneeded evidence that that movie changed everything, and changed it fast.

7. Hey, Read Something Else!

A full-page ad for Trek: The Magazine for Star Trek Fans. I've never laid eyes on a copy of this magazine in my life, but I feel like I already know it by heart anyway, since I read and re-read the Best of Trek compilations frequently as a kid. Between those and David Gerrold's book about the making of The Trouble with Tribbles, they instilled a love of non-fiction that's with me to this day. And it's also how I became aware of the fact that fans have this tendency to not get along with each other, and that many people felt that "Trekkie" was a slur compared to "Trekker." I lost my innocence that day.

8. The 3-D House of View-Masters.

The coverage of 3-D from the previous issue continues, this time with a whole heck of lot of technical information about the various processes. Also, how to look at pictures in 3-D using nothing but YOUR OWN EYES! And possibly a mirror. There was the Cross-Eyed Method...

...the Mirror Method (which, let's face it, is cheating)...

...and the Drift Method.

Hey, if you were looking at picture of Tokyo, would it be a Tokyo Drift? (Ba-boom! Thanks, I'll be here all week! Tip your waitress!)

Of the many diagrams and technical schematics, this is the only one I can really wrap my head around - hey, those are shapes! I recognize shapes - and it includes the return of our old pal The Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth.

And, as if it weren't bad enough that they have hunter-killer satellites, the Russians also have 70mm film stock. Shit's gettin' real!

More links from around the web!

interesting that stark trecks censor ship problems showed up on this list both the one with the second pilot and the orion slave lady. and also the animated series episode with kirk defending lucifer. plus interesting to learn Gene did not want the shuttle named enterprise

I wonder who came up with the "orbiting bombs" thing, because Clarke sure as hell doesn't mention it in the novelization of 2001. The again, the whole Cold War angle also got hit harder in the movie version of 2010 than it ever did in the book....

@step5555 Clarke himself establishes that they're orbiting bombs at 15:46 in the documentary; it's also mentioned elsewhere that Kubrick had originally intended for the Starchild to make the bombs go boom, but decided iagainst it because it was too similar to the end of his previous film, Dr. Strangelove. Also, in fairness, Clarke's book isn't a novelization per se; though both it and the film grew out of his short story "The Sentinel," the book and film were developed at the same time, and as such went in different directions as both men followed their not-always-compatible muses. Of course, Clarke (not unreasonably) retconned his 2010 / 2061 / 3000 novels to match the movie...

@Gallen_Dugall It was the product of the great Gerry Anderson who also did the super-marionation shows like Thunderbirds. It was meant to appeal to an internation audience though which is why they cast Martin Landau and Barbara Bain in the leads. I actually quite like Space: 1999, especially the first season which had a very strong 2001 vibe to it. It failed more than succeeded, but they certainly tried. And honestly, for mid-70s TV the special effects and model work were fantastic.

Ironically, the show really fell apart in the second season when they brought in American producer Fred Freiberger. One of the main complaints of season one was it was "too cerebral" and there wasn't enough action. Now, some of you may remember Freiberger as the man who stepped in to produce Star Trek's ill-fated third season when Roddenberry bailed. His solution was basically to turn 1999 into Trek (complete with Spock-like alien) but instead turned it into a goofy, nonsensical show (which is certainly enjoyable but vastly inferior to season one). My two cents.

PS. I'm not a fan of Wizards either. Always annoys me that Bakshi keeps blaming Star Wars for its failure, like if SW hadn't come out Wizards would have been this huge phenomenon. Uhhhh, I don't think so. It's just not that good a movie.

@Gallen_DugallAn argument could also be made that they're no longer slaves in the Abrams films, being members of Starfleet and all. And the Orion woman Galia actually had a lot more to do in the film -- including Kirk using her to unknowingly reprogram the Kobayashi Maru -- but most of her scenes got cut because YAWN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WHATEVS. More's the pity, as this deleted scene is my favorite moment out of the Abrams films by far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrLU3DU-ycM& Turns out Chris Pine actually has decent comic timing!